


What was missing

by grumpyphoenix



Series: Brain Salad [15]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Not Beta Read, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 15:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15799776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumpyphoenix/pseuds/grumpyphoenix
Summary: After the war ended, something was missing.





	What was missing

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Cafe, enemies to friends to lovers, pining.  
> Time limit was 30minutes. I was in an accident and am in pain, and can't do much, so writing. Sorry if the tenses are off. Pain meds. ;P

The funny thing about the end of the war was that the silence was worse than all the fighting. While all of them were technically adults, as soon as Voldemort was dead, war weary parents, Aurors and teachers took over. While they chased down death eaters and rebuilt Hogwarts, all of the students found themselves drifting. For the first month, Harry didn’t sleep well, convinced that something bad would happen. He wasn’t the only one; late night cocoa and card games in The Burrow were something the three of them welcomed. No one talked about why they were up, and Mrs. Weasley had the best chocolate. Aside from those shining moments, Harry found himself drifting. Something was missing. Hermione and Ron seemed to want to be alone all of the time, and he assured them it was fine; there was no way he was going to get in the middle of that. Harry bought them their own tent, and after she spent a month customizing it, they took off. 

That’s when he moved out of The Burrow, over Mrs. Weasley’s strenuous objections. She still held out hope that he and Ginny would get together, but he couldn’t. She was going back to Hogwarts in the fall, and though the invitation was extended to all the students who had lost their last year, he couldn’t do that either.

He got a flat on Diagon Alley over a shop and at least got a mattress for it, but his sleep was just as bad now as ever, and something was still missing. It wasn’t until he went for coffee one morning that he realized what it was.

It happened in his favorite coffee shop. Harry loved this place because the witch who owned it had filled it with cats and comfortable chairs. It was the one bit of socializing he did all day, and it was mostly silent, like the rest of his life. He didn’t even have to talk to the barista anymore, because she already knew his order. He would sit in a chair and pet a cat for an hour every day, and it soothed him down to the core. 

Then one day, Draco fucking Malfoy came in, and everything shattered. Literally. Every coffee cup broke all at the same time, including his own. The emotional whiplash of seeing that  goddamned head of blond hair made his magic pulse out of control. The self satisfied smirk on his face while Harry paid for the damage did not help either.

He did not go back for days. An itch under his skin made him walk instead, waking so early that the sky was still blue, and coming home late. Sweating and shaking, he would fall on his mattress and then wake up a few hours later to do it again. Eventually, he decided it was a fluke, and so he went back. Malfoy wouldn’t go back there again, why would he? Surely he didn’t want to see Harry any more than Harry wanted to see him.

But there he was, sitting in a chair with a Tabby happily purring on his lap while he read The Prophet, elegant fingers trailing through fur. He looked up when Harry came in, and smiled. Even though it was shot through with sarcasm, Malfoy seemed genuinely glad to see him. It was devastating, and Harry knew instantly what he’d been missing.

Harry turned and left.


End file.
